62 
MR. TV. K. PARKER OK THE STRUCTURE AND 
they are toothless —a state of things commonly seen in small types of tooth-bearing 
Batrachia. 
My specimen of this kind was equal in size to many other dwarfs in this group of 
Vertebrata, and the evidence in favour of its maturity greatly outweighs that which 
seems to tell of immaturity. Taking its skull then as that of ail adult, and comparing 
it with the “norma,” I find the following discrepancies, viz. : — 
1. No septo-maxillaries. 
2. Fronto-parietals of each side coalesced. 
3. Quadrato-jugal ossifies part of suspensorium. 
4. No teeth on vomers. 
5. No “ girdle-bone.” even in rudiment. 
6. Inter-stapedial very small. 
7. No supra-stapedial, and extra-stapedial arrested. 
8. Lesser fontanelles absent. 
Skulls of “Ranidce ” not comprised in the typical “genus.” 
15. (A) Tomopterna hreviceps. —Half-grown female; length, 1^ inch. S. India. 
This and the next kind are both put into the same genus in Gunther’s ‘ Reptiles 
of British India’ (p. 411); but more recently the author has put this short-headed, 
high-faced species into the genus Tomopterna, removing it from Pyxicephalus. 
This is as it should be. The two (this and P. rufescens ) differ quite enough to 
entitle them to be placed in distinct generic groups ; this species comes nearest to the 
Ranee, the other is a more aberrant form. 
The outline of this skull (Plate 14, figs. 5, 6) is half a short ellipse, and the width 
is to the length as 8 to 6f; the general outline is very regular. A full grown 
individual would have shown a more irregular outline and denser bony centres, 
but the skull is fairly finished at this stage ; size and strength are all that is gained 
afterwards. 
The occipital condyles (Plate 14, figs. 5, 6, oc.c .) are rather wide apart, and project 
but little. The auditory capsules carry the hind skull out considerably, opposite the 
quadrate hinge; and this hinge is opposite the middle of the stapes ( q.c ., vb.) as in the 
last. 
The suborbital spaces are very large, and each forms two-thirds of an almost regular 
circle. The interorbital region of the cranium only lessens very gradually forwards, 
and it swells out gently in the middle. The cartilaginous roof of the skull is complete 
up to the orbital region ; there is only the main fontanelle. 
The whole fore skull is extremely like that of the “ norma,” but the prenasal 
(fig. 9, p.n.) is a more distinct bud, and the pro-rhinals ( p.rh .) are larger hooks; also 
the outer angles of the subnasal laminae ( s.n.l .) are simpler. 
